Tip of the Week

From June 11 through July 11, the world's eyes have been fixed on the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the most important international soccer tournament, taking place in South Africa.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup is the final competitive tournament of a qualification process that began in August 2007 and involved 204 of the 208 FIFA national teams. As such, it matches the 2008 Summer Olympics as the sports event with the most competing nations.

Whether you are a soccer fan yourself, or whether you are married to one, or whether your kids are involved in youth soccer, chances are that between June 11 and July 11, 2010 you will be exposed to a whole lot of soccer!

Let’s just make your July workout more fun and in tune with the sport of soccer, and let’s celebrate one of the most exciting and most widely played sports in the world.

Soccer Conditioning Strength Circuit:

It covers all the important elements of fitness: strength, power, speed & agility, endurance, but designed specifically with soccer in mind.

Start by warming up: 5minutes of jogging in place, high knees, heel-flicks back or jumping. Then repeat the following circuit 3 times:

20 Push ups

30 Squats

30 Lateral raises (using dumbbells/resistance bands)

50 Abs Crunches

30 Jumping jacks: is performed by jumping to a position with the legs spread wide and the hands touching overhead and then returning to a position with the feet together and the arms at the sides.

30 Triceps Dips on a chair

20 Burpees/up-downs: Begin in a squat position with hands on the floor in front of you. Kick your feet back to a pushup position. Immediately return your feet to the squat position. Leap up as high as possible from the squat position. Repeat, moving at a fast pace.

Running

Rather than running at a continuous pace, let’s make it much more soccer specific. Soccer conditioning should involve running, jogging and sprinting in no specific order, like in the real game.

Run for 20-30 minutes at varying paces. The idea is to keep it as random as possible. For example start by jogging lightly for 5 minutes (to recover from the strength circuit you just completed).

Then sprint for 20yards--Then slow jog for 100yards--Cruise for 200yards--Run backwards for 20 yards--Turn and sprint for 30yards--Walk for 50yards--Jog for 300yards--And keep alternating your pace for 20-30 minutes.

Use your perceived level of exhaustion (fatigue) to determine when to sprint or when you need to jog or walk. So, on a scale from 1 to 10 (1 being a walk in the park, 10 being an all-out, heart-pounding effort) try to keep your running session at about a level 7 throughout. However, if you need to jog most of the way that's absolutely fine as well. Build your endurance up over a period of weeks to more intense sessions as you become fitter.

Stretching

At the end of your training session, stretch your hamstrings, groins, quads, calves and lower back. Hold each stretch for about 20-30 seconds without bouncing.

After all this hard work…you may not be able to play in the FIFA World Cup in South Africa yet…but your arms, legs, butt and abs will definitely be world class…!